cleanse
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make clean.
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to remove by or as if by cleaning.
to cleanse sin from the soul.
verb (used without object)
verb
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to remove dirt, filth, etc, from
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to remove guilt from
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to remove a group of people from (an area) by means of ethnic cleansing
Synonym Usage
See clean.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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recleanseverb (used with object)
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cleansableadjective
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uncleansableadjective
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uncleansedadjective
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well-cleansedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cleansesimple
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cleansessimple
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have cleansedperfect
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has cleansedperfect
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am cleansingprogressive
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are cleansingprogressive
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is cleansingprogressive
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have been cleansingperfect progressive
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has been cleansingperfect progressive
Past
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cleansedsimple
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had cleansedperfect
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was cleansingprogressive
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were cleansingprogressive
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had been cleansingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cleanse
before 900; Middle English clensen, Old English clǣnsian, equivalent to clǣne clean + -si- v. suffix + -an infinitive suffix
Vocabulary lists containing cleanse
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The author also contends that recessions don’t cleanse or restructure economies, the way wildfires clear forests of their dead wood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
“No power, no justification, and no time can cleanse this great tragedy.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
The idea of a tube up my tuchus didn’t scare me, nor did the notorious prep of drinking a foul-tasting liquid to cleanse your intestinal tract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
"For the rivers within us flow with ease, fears washed away, cleanse and purify. Come to peace with our tears and discover what it means to be alive," she says.
From BBC ● Jan. 9, 2026
“We’ll give thee a good bath and cleanse thy humor. Who knows? Mayhap we can teach thee to swim!”
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
It was just out of earshot from Oz nodding along to musings on how “sleep is when the brain cleanses itself.”
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
Some substances in parasite cleanses may disrupt the microbiome: the balance of natural bacteria in the gut that helps digest food and keep the body healthy, Lourido said.
From Salon ● May 18, 2025
Pilgrims bathe in these rivers, believing the ritual cleanses their sins and brings them closer to spiritual liberation.
From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2025
Hindus believe taking a dip in the sacred waters cleanses people of sins.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2025
The more water we drink, the more we sweat, and sweating cleanses our bodies of impurities.
From "First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers" by Loung Ung
Will the doors of perception ever be cleansed?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026
“That cleansed the space of a lot of weaker companies,” he says.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025
The purpose of earthly life for a good 16th-century Christian was to prepare for life with God in heaven, their soul cleansed of mortal sin.
From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2025
Then I lay down in a cozy room, where Yu quickly cleansed my face.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2024
The brutal afternoon workouts left him exhausted and sore but feeling cleansed, as if someone had scrubbed out his soul with a stiff wire brush.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
There was a time when economists treated a stock-market crash as a healthy, cleansing event for the broader economy.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
"Outdoor swimming feels mentally and physically cleansing," Hickman, a keen swimmer herself, says.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
The new site will be the company’s global center for skin care and cleansing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Earlier work by the team showed that corona discharges could be a significant source of these atmospheric cleansing agents within forest canopies.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 21, 2026
“I knew the whole time. Rain is cleansing, after all. It reveals the truth.”
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
